Motorola Cliq 2 Gingerbread update now available for download

Hey, Motorola Cliq 2 owners! You'd better sit down, because we've got some good news for you on this fine Thursday afternoon. Motorola has announced that an upgrade to Android 2.3 is now available for Cliq 2 owners, bringing with it not only a bump to Gingerbread but also a handful of other goodies, including improvements to UI performance and bug fixes that improve battery life. For those that are curious, the update is software version 2.0.87. The full changelog for the update is available below.

So just how can you go about getting Gingerbread onto your Cliq 2? You'd better grab your micro-USB cable, because the update requires that you install the Motorola Software Update (MSU) application onto your Windows PC to make the move to Android 2.3. Motorola notes that the update won't be rolled out over the air and that OS X isn't supported with the MSU application, so you Mac-using Cliq 2 folk will need to hunt down a Windows box in order to update. If that all sounds doable and you're ready to update, you can find instructions on how to perform the upgrade here. Be sure to give us a shout in the comments below once the update is complete to let us know how everything's working, Cliq 2 folk!

Enhancements:

Improved Cursor Control: Now you can just touch where you want the cursor to be and then move the blue cursor arrow icon to find the exact spot you want.

Improved Word Selection and Copy Functionality: Words can now be selected via press-hold. A second press of the selected word copies the selected characters.

Number and Symbol Shortcuts: When entering text on the virtual keyboard, certain numbers and symbols shortcuts are available by pressing and holding letter keys.

Sleep Mode: New power off option puts your phone in a low power, wireless-off mode that allows for instant bootup when returning to powered-on mode.

Dock Icon Functionality: The icons at the bottom of each homescreen have been updated. The new customizable Dock includes the app launcher icon on the far right of the four icons, while the other three provide shortcuts to common phone features. These three icons can customized via pressing and holding an individual icon or by dragging an icon on top of them.

Rich Location App: New app from Motorola compiles thousands of the Internet's most powerful websites, streaming only the most relevant suggestions, activities, promotions, based on your unique preference and location. You can use Yelp reviews and Facebook check-ins to find out what others are recommending.

App and Power Management Details: Manage Applications now provides improved information about what apps and services are running, how much memory and CPU time each are using, and the ability to close individual apps and services.

Download Manager App: New App will manage all of your downloads from web browsing and other apps.

New User Interface Icons: New icon style has been introduced to refresh user interface design.

Tasks App Enhancements: The app has been enhanced to include a Task dashboard interface that lets users filter tasks in new ways and share tasks with others.

Emergent Groups and Smart Contacts: Based on usage, participant and addressee suggestions are made in Calendar entries, emails and text messages. You can create groups instantly based on the context of what you're doing. For example, quickly create a group based on a suggestion from a Calendar invitee list or the group of people with whom you're texting.

Updated Calendar Options:

Calendar and event times can be displayed in your home time zone when traveling.

Individual reminders can be dismissed, such as dismissing one meeting reminder without dismissing other meeting reminders.

Easy conference dialing allows you to dial the conference number and the meeting code will be automatically entered directly from your Calendar.

Device Control Capabilities: Through 3LM, new device control options are available including application blacklisting/whitelisting, microphone control, and enabling/disabling enterprise applications.

Improvements

UI performance Improvements: Various fixes were made to improve stability and performance, including faster phonebook, widget, and wallpaper load times.

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